Jaune's Salvation
by GunRose
Summary: When an investigation by Glynda Goodwitch goes horribly wrong for one Jaune Arc, a man must pick him up when he falls down, and Jaune will grow into the hero he was meant to be, even if it wasn't by traditional means.
1. The Journey Begins

**Note from GunRose44:**

 **Hello everyone! For those who are familiar with my previous work do not fret! I still want to continue to write on "Sokka's Troubles". Unfortunately, I have been busy with a lot of things that have been involved with the family. Suffice it to say, it has been rough. But I am looking for a beta reader for that story so that I can spitball some ideas to continue it on.**

 **In regards to this story, I am wanting to lock myself into a scheduled release, and as such I will try to release each chapter on a consistent basis. In regards to this, I have tried to flesh the story out, but that does not mean that I don't want feedback! Suggestions and reviews are much appreciated! And please let's keep it constructive and positive.**

 **And now, I present to you, Chapter 1 of Jaune's Salvation!**

* * *

 **Chapter 1: The Journey Begins**

Glynda Goodwitch was pissed off.

No Scratch that, she was mad as hell

Why you may ask? Because she just found out the transcripts of Jaune Arc were fake.

She was storming to Ozpin's office ready to unleash hell upon the caffeine-induced headmaster of Beacon Academy.

As she rode the elevator up, she thought back to her Atlesian upbringing, how the rules were the rules and that bending them could spell disaster, the tapping of her foot on the metal floor of the clocktower elevator surmising her bitter attitude to the situation.

The elevator opened to the Headmaster's office in which she strode immediately to the desk, the Headmaster looking through reports as he worked through the mountain of paperwork of repair orders for the Hunter and Huntress School.

"Ozpin, were you aware of Mr. Arc's Transcripts?" Goodwitch asked with a sickly sweet voice.

"Why yes Glynda, I am fully aware of Mr. Arc's transcripts." replied the nonplussed Ozpin

"Then why did you allow such an underachieving student into this institution when he didn't even qualify for admission?" Quipped Goodwitch with an annoyed tone.

"Glynda I am the Headmaster am I not?" replied Ozpin

"Yes…"

"And you would trust my judgment on these matters yes?"

"Enough to ignore the amount of caffeine you ingest every single day…" said Glynda with a deadpan stare.

"Then know that there is a reason why Mr. Arc was invited to attend this institution. Now unless the coffee machine has broken down… again… I…." Ozpin stopped mid-sentence as an email popped up on his holo-screen. The color on his face drained immediately.

"Glynda…. Please tell me you didn't…"

Glynda looked worried at Ozpin's sudden change in demeanor.

"What's wrong Ozpin?"

Ozpin immediately pulls the email up to be viewable on a big screen, while also immediately forwarding it to a supposedly drunken compatriot...

 _Dear Deputy Headmistress Goodwitch,_

 _Thank you for your immediate response in regards to the inquiry on one Jaune Arc, leader of team JNPR. As per your hunch, this is correct that he did not attend any previous preparatory academy, nor has he had any qualifications to attend Beacon Academy. As such, it is this board's decision to immediately expel Mr. Arc from the premises, and to blacklist him from any Hunter Academy within the Alliance._

 _Signed,_

 _Richard Dewhitt_

 _Head of the Board for Beacon Academy_

Ozpin's voice reached a dangerously cold tone as he looked deep into Glynda Goodwitch's Soul and asked a very simple yet earth shattering question.

"What… Did…. You… Do?"

"I did what was necessary within the parameters of the school, why would you have me do otherwise?" Glynda responded with an ominous feeling of dread hovering over her.

"YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO GO OVER MY HEAD GLYNDA" Ozpin roared with a fury not seen in many years.

"Because of your cavalier attitude to the situation…. Now we have no way to train Mr. Arc for his semblance. And let me guess, you have no idea what that may be do you?" Ozpin sarcastically responded

"No tests have shown any instance of a semblance on his part…" Glynda tried to refute with a weak response.

"That's because it was intentionally locked away." Ozpin reached into his desk drawer and pulled out a manilla envelope.

"Look at this Glynda and tell me what do you see."

Glynda looked at the document within the envelope and immediately dropped the papers.

"Monty Oum, How does he…?" she responded

"Now you see why I have kept this under wraps, and what possible calamity you may have wrought upon us." Ozpin retorted with a wistful sigh

"At least this may be fixable, if only…" Ozpin was immediately interrupted as the door to his office blew off its hinges and a pissed off Qrow Branwen entered the room looking like he would destroy anything that got in his way.

"OZPIN WE HAD A DEAL!" Qrow yelled

"Qrow, for once, this is really not my fault." Ozpin gave a nasty look to Glynda who had the decency to look ashamed for her actions.

"Oh so it's the Queen of the Rules Brigade that has caused this. Well, let me settle this once and for all. YOU FUCKED UP." Qrow responded in anger directed at Glynda

"It was a misunderstanding…" Glynda tried to respond.

"MISUNDERSTANDING?!" Qrow gaffed in the face of sheer stupidity

"You just destroyed a kid's dream, you took away what made him push harder than ever, and yes I am aware of the lack of talent on his part, but that doesn't excuse what you've done. He's now got a harder life ahead of him because of YOUR arrogance." Qrow fumed at Glynda

"Well Guess What, you Fucked up even harder because now, you've lost a student AND a spy." Qrow turned to Ozpin

"Ozpin, you know that I need to take care of business." Qrow spoke in a low tone

"I understand, I'm sorry it's come to this." Ozpin responded

"Me too Ozzie… me too." Qrow quipped as he walked through the doors to the docks, thinking on what to say to the poor kid.

Ozpin Sighed as he pushed the button on his desk to activate the Intercom.

"Would Jaune Arc please report to the Headmaster's Office?"

* * *

Jaune was gobsmacked and Crying

He was walking back to his dorm after listening to Ozpin discuss with him his Expulsion.

What made it even worse was his family's involvement and the realization that Professor Goodwitch was responsible for his expulsion.

**Flashback**

Ozpin was explaining to Jaune his Expulsion as a Video Call came into the office from the Arc Residence.

"JONATHAN ARC!" yelled his father Nicholas Arc into the Video Feed.

"You have no honor in what you have done!"

"But Dad… " responded Jaune

"SILENCE" yelled Nicholas

Jaune stood muted as he awaited his fate.

"Glynda it seems that my friend on the board contacted me about your investigation into my Son's transcripts. I am sorry that he has wasted you and Ozpin's time…" Nicholas began.

"Nicholas… if I may?" Ozpin tried to interrupt.

"NO YOU MAY NOT OZ!" Nicholas responded in rage

"Because of my son, he has sullied the name of what it means to be an Arc. An Arc is honorable and never goes back on his promises, and I see no Honor in this. Jaune, at this moment, I disown you from the Arc namesake and all rights associated with it."

Jaune was crying at this point, losing Beacon was one thing, but losing his family? This broke him.

"Glynda, please send me Crocea Mors to me at once, it is Arc family property and needs to be handed to a REAL Arc."

"But Father" Jaune responded in plea

With the next words, Nicholas completed the torture of the day to Jaune

"You are no son of mine." and cut the video feed off.

**Flashback End**

Jaune entered team JNPR's room and began to pack. Ren and Nora were getting Pancakes at the cafeteria and he didn't want to interrupt them.

Pyrrha was on a phone call from Mistral, most likely someone from Pumpkin Pete's talking to her as if she mattered to them. She mattered to the team more and she knew that.

He didn't even want to think about Team RWBY, their sister team, as they would be broken up about the situation, except for one member who happen to be in the hallway overhearing the rumors and capitalized on it.

**Flashback**

Jaune was walking back when he bumped into Weiss and tried to play it off poorly.

"H...hey snow angel" Jaune started with a weak voice

"I know all about your falsehoods Jaune Arc." Weiss tore into him like a hungry beowolf into a newly minted hunter.

"YOU FAKER, you don't deserve to be here Arc, I was right all along, that you are just pathetic and disgusting." Weiss was laying into him as he backed into a wall trying to keep composure, but what she said next would forever haunt him.

"Go home and cry to your family you dunce."

Jaune ran.

**Flashback End**

Jaune finished packing, with tears streaming down his cheeks, he opened the door to JNPR's room and looked wistfully one last time at the beds, imagining his teammates sitting on them looking at him. He slowly closed the door and walked out.

After shutting the door, the lock engaged with a thunk, and no matter how many times he tried to swipe his scroll over the lock, he was refused entry. This was it.

He was removed.

He turned to the door across the hall, the home of Team RWBY. He considered knocking and explaining what was happening, but in the end, he decided against it.

"Don't want to go through what I just experienced." Referring to Weiss's comments.

He began the walk with his duffle, lighter than it had ever been since the removal of his weapon Crocea Mors. He made the solom walk to the Bullhead Landing Pad for Vale.

His bag getting heavier and heavier each step, or was it his soul? He couldn't tell. But as he walked past Team CFVY's room, Velvet tried to get his attention.

The rumors in Beacon never stay quiet for long, and Velvet heard what happened. She reached out to Jaune to comfort him, but was ignored by Jaune, not out of malice, but how hard his walk had been so far.

"I'm Sorry Velvet, I let you down." Jaune said as he walked by.

Coco then came around the corner, about to give Jaune a peace of her mind for blowing off her Bun Bun, but Yatsuhashi pulled her aside and whispered into her ear what happened.

Her eyes went from anger to sadness, no one deserved what Jaune got, and she wanted to help him just as much as Velvet, but he was long gone by the time the explanation came out.

Jaune walked out of the heavy double doors that signified the end of his Huntsman Career, or so he thought… Before a voice Interrupted his long walk.

"Hey Kid…"

 **Authors Note:**

 **Alright everyone! I hope this story has garnered your interest! Please let me know what you think and PLEASE REVIEW! Feedback is a huge part of this and I want to build this story further and further. See you all in the next chapter!**

 **GunRose44**


	2. One Crow over the Cuckoo's Nest

**Author's Note:**

 **Hello everyone! I wanted to respond to the reviews!**

 **To all the responses that were generally positive: Thank you! Within the first 24 hours I received so many positive responses of the story. I am honored that this has garnered your interest.**

 **To the guest who used coarse language in regard to fans of Jaune Arc:**

 **I'm sorry that you feel that way, I know that there are a lot of folks from the reviews that I have seen that are enjoying this story. That being said I hope you find a story that will suit your tastes and I wish you all the best.**

 **And to the Guest who responded about Character Bashing:**

 **The idea behind this story is to allow for Jaune to have his hero's journey. The characters that I have given so far in the "bashing" as you put it, were already very abrasive personalities that given the correct circumstances can make error of judgments. The rest I cannot expand on until I release more chapters, but plans are in the works.**

 **I should also note that this story will NOT be sticking to strict canon, so please be patient and bear with me; I do have a beta reader who has access to my overview and is working with me to keep things in a sensible direction.**

 **Thanks to all that reviewed and I look forward to the next batch of reviews!**

 **And with that! Let the story continue!**

 **Chapter 2: One Qrow over the Cuckoo's Nest**

* * *

"... Hey, Kid"

Jaune turned immediately to the voice belonging to none other than Qrow Branwen.

His face, impassive before now showed that of compassion as he continued.

"It's going to be ok, Kid…" Qrow said with a sad look upon his face as he approached the distraught boy.

"You were the one who sold me the transcripts..." replied Jaune through tears.

"I know."

"And you are the one who promised me that it would be ok." Jaune said.

"I know."

"You lied…" Jaune growled.

"I was misled." Responded Qrow.

"What do I do?" Jaune responded in a desperate plea, looking anywhere but Qrow.

"Come with me, kid; I'm gonna make this right." Qrow responded in a kind and gentle voice that even he didn't know he had.

Jaune looked at the bullhead ready to take him into Vale, and then at Qrow

"Listen, Kid. Yes, you got dealt a shitty hand right now, but you've got two options that I can see." Qrow put his fingers up counting the ways Jaune's life could change.

"You can get on the bullhead over there and try your luck in the world. But considering what happened with your family that wouldn't be the best of ideas." Qrow pointed out.

"No shit, Sherlock." Jaune responded with cynicism dripping from each syllable.

"... Or you can come with me; it's going to be harder, but I promise you I will take you under this dusty old Qrow's wing and teach you what I know." Qrow finished with a serious look upon his face.

"Don't make promises you cannot keep, you drunk." Jaune retorted.

Qrow smirked at the fire in the kid, even if it was misdirected currently.

"C'mon, Kid; let's go somewhere to talk." Qrow suggested

Jaune looked at the bullhead, then at Beacon one last time before his response.

"Sure. It's not like I have anything else to lose…" Jaune mumbled as Qrow wrapped an arm around the shaking and crying boy as he was led away to a small bullhead.

"Oh and before you get on this Bullhead, I have a present for you" Qrow responded as he handed Jaune a bottle of motion sickness pills.

Jaune, for his sake, mutely nodded as he took the bottle, opened it, and dry swallowed two pills.

* * *

As Jaune and Qrow sat in a coffee shop in Vale, Jaune thought upon his life up to this point, thinking of what has happened and how he came to be here.

Qrow, meanwhile, slowly sipped on the coffee in front of him. One of the downsides of spending copious amounts of time with Ozpin was that his addiction to coffee rubbed off on him.

Although he still did imbibe from whiskey mixed coffee from time to time, he was cutting back now that Jaune was his full responsibility.

Suddenly a scroll went off and both men were shaken out of their stupor; Jaune pulled his first from his pocket and saw no call coming in. This left…

"This is Qrow…"

"DRUNKLE QROW, WE NEED YOUR HELP!" said a screaming Yang Xiao Long.

"What's going on Firecracker?"

"Jaune is gone! And Pyrrha is on the warpath. Ruby knows something but has locked herself in the bathroom. Can you help us?" Yang cried into the phone.

"Yang, there are some things that I have to tell you… Jaune's not coming back." Qrow sadly told his niece.

Yang's eyes turned blood red as she responded "WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S NOT COMING BACK? DID HE RUN AWAY?"

Qrow needed to defuse the situation quickly. He then launched into an explanation of Jaune's expulsion, his disinheritance from his family, and even how Jaune got his transcripts.

Yang went from anger to downright mortified at what she was hearing; the one person who worked his butt off to earn his place in the school, even though that place was fabricated, went through so much pain and hell. She had no words.

"Yang… you there?" Qrow asked the muted blond on the other end of the line.

"Uncle Qrow, I'm going to have to call you back; take care of Jaune for us… and especially for Ruby. She's taken it a lot harder than most." Yang responded in a detached manner.

The line disconnected as another call came in from team (J)NPR on Jaune's Scroll.

A sweet sing song voice came from the other end of the line as the hammer wielding hyperactive woman Nora called.

"Oh Fearless LEADER…. WHERE ARE YOU HIDING?" she said with a very scary grin on her face.

Jaune smiled painfully and responded.

"Nora, can you put the entire team on the line?"

"We are already here and waiting for an EXPLANATION." Nora all but screamed.

Ren was sitting in the background with a mildly worried expression on his face, probably hiding the fact that he was sick to death worried about his team leader.

Pyrrha on the other hand looked downright pissed.

Jaune took a deep breath and calmly with a sad and tired tone explained what happened. The response of Team (J)NPR was similar to Yang's earlier reaction.

Nora quietly nodded and said in a calm voice "We are going to fix this."

Pyrrha looked at Jaune and said "Nothing will change, you will always be our leader, my partner."

Ren responded "Jaune, you always were and always will be my brother. This changes nothing."

Then Nora asked a very interesting question.

"Oh, Jaune Jaune… we ran into Weiss…. And she had some very interesting things to say. What happened?"

Jaune then explained what went down between him and Weiss… and the two ladies of JNPR suddenly started whispering between each other while Ren looked back and forth between the screen and the team.

Pyrrha started smiling in a sickly sweet way.

"Oh, Jaune, no need to worry; we'll take care of this issue for you."

"Yeah, Jaune Jaune." Nora agreed, "Ice Queen is going to learn what happens when you kick one of us when we are down." With an evil smirk on her face.

Jaune looked at Ren in a panicked state asking "Please, keep them from getting into trouble on my behalf."

Ren just smiled in a twisted sort of way saying "Sorry, Jaune, but legs need to be broken…"

The video feed then cut off…

What sort of loopy land had he entered into for that conversation to come out of?

Qrow on the other hand, had a feeling that the uptight Schnee daughter at Beacon was in for a rude awakening.

"Jaune." Qrow spoke to get his attention.

"Yeah?"

"We need to talk about what I did- what I tried to do to help you."

Jaune didn't like where this story was going, but he knew that this was going to give him more information.

"Alright… why?" Jaune asked.

"Because, Kid… I see a lot of me in you. A lot of my skills were learned through… unconventional means, and although I did attend Beacon, the training I received to be where I am today was more… unorthodox than any standard applicant."

Jaune nodded mutely as he let Qrow continue.

"I learned out in the field on my combat skills, and found out who I am by folks who had experience and was mentored by another hunter."

Qrow wistfully sighed as he thought back to his younger days.

"My teacher was also my father figure; he not only taught me how to fight, within the world of the grimm, but to also fight rogue hunters. He taught me many lessons both on and off the battlefield, many of which shaped me up to this day…"

Jaune grimaced as he imagined a drunken master teaching a young, impressionable Qrow.

"But in the end, I grew and learned and was accepted into Beacon. All through unconventional ways."

"I tried to explain this to your father…"

"You knew my father?" Jaune interrupted with an incredulous look on his face.

"Yeah, Kid, I know Nicholas Arc. But I didn't know that he was treating you the way he did. A father needs to be a caring individual, not just a drill sergeant that tries to drive a point home."

Jaune nodded to Qrow's statement… repressed memories of his childhood coming back to him.

"But, Kid, I want to help train you, and although the official hunter schools are closed to you, I want to offer you a mentorship and training through unofficial means." Qrow offered.

"What would that entail, Qrow?" Jaune cautiously asked.

"It's good that your trying to find out what you're getting yourself into. Shows that you are thinking your way through this." Qrow smiled approvingly.

"There's this friend of mine. She works with a team, a Task Force that is well known in the Special Operations world. They owe me a bunch of favors that now I am going to cash in. I'll be training with you as well and we're gonna teach you how to protect those that mean the most to you." Qrow explained.

"What about you being drunk all the time?" Jaune countered.

"Well what about it?" Qrow tried to play it off.

"C'mon, Qrow; I may not know you, but I do know your reputation from Ruby and Yang. Drunkle Qrow?" Jaune postulated, wanting to see what he could get out of him.

' _*sigh* The kid is smarter than I thought'_ Qrow mused.

"Kid, I do drink, and trust me, given the chance I'd love to have a bottle or two of whiskey right now, but in life, there are some things that are more important. And have you seen me drink any today?" Qrow questioned.

Jaune looked at the table and realized that it was true, Qrow did not fill his mug with anything other than the coffee that was handed to him.

"Do I key up the "Drunkle Qrow" thing a bit? Yes. But I do it to throw off suspicions and to be a more competent spy."

Jaune believed Qrow on this; for the entire conversation, he was sitting ramrod straight, if relaxed with no signs of alcohol on him.

"Ok, so let's say we do this… What's the next step?" Jaune asked cautiously.

Qrow grinned and leaned into the table.

"We need to meet up with my friends from the Task Force, and my contact, who may or may not be happy with me right now." Qrow mused.

Jaune looked skeptical at Qrow's decision. But in the end he needed to put his faith in someone, and the fact that Qrow was helping him all along gave him enough confidence to at least see what was coming down the path.

"Ok, so where will we need to go for this "meetup" of ours?" Jaune asked.

Qrow smirked.

"Well, Kid, good news, it seems that the Task Force is in town; we just need to go to the abandoned warehouse section of Vale and make contact."

Jaune immediately was disliking this plan more and more. Memories of all the incidents that went down in Vale, especially the warehouse sections, were all too common for those who were Beacon students.

… or in his case, former Beacon student.

"Are you sure they aren't connected with any bad ties?" Jaune asked.

Qrow just laughed at this question.

"Kid, if these guys were affiliated with any of the bad eggs you all keep running into, I'd take them out myself." Qrow quipped.

Jaune sighed in resignation; it looked as if he wouldn't get any more information on the decision he'd have to make.

Qrow turned serious again and looked at him.

"Kid, I know I've asked this before but it's still not too late to back out now. We can find you a good job in the civilian world somewhere. No shame in that."

Jaune looked back at Qrow at first with surprise, then with indignation as he gave his response.

"I lost everything Qrow; I have nothing else left to lose."

Jaune stared at Qrow after making that deceleration.

Qrow sighed and stood up, beckoning Jaune to join him. He pulled out his Scroll and dialed a number that was redacted.

" _Caller Please Authenticate"_ the voice over the phone line said.

"Access Code Whiteout; get me a Secure line to Asset Frostbite." Qrow responded.

The line crackled as the secure connection was made.

" _Qrow, it's been a long time."_ the new voice over the line responded.

"Not long enough it seems." Qrow responded in jest.

"Listen, Chief, I need to come in from the cold; I've got someone wet behind the ears, but he's worth the time to train."

" _You sure about this? You know how we are with newbies, we learn on the job… fast."_

"I'm not dumping him on you, you get us as a package deal. Still got my clearances and all."

" _I'm surprised you haven't been taken out of the system yet."_

"You and me both, Cap."

" _Alright, Qrow, we need new blood anyway; Nomad got his own team, so we've been running one short."_

"And who's your new Leader? Last I checked, S.O.P. is Specialists are Task Force Leaders."

" _Oh you know who she is… and trust me, she's aware of you coming in from the cold. Just don't expect too warm of a reception from her…"_

"Hehe, just like old times. Reaper out."

The line clicked dead as the secure connection was cut off.

Turning to Jaune as they walked through the streets of Vale, Qrow gave him the best advice he could at the moment.

"Jaune, keep your head down and your mouth shut. It's time to meet the Task Force…"

End of Chapter

 **Authors Note:**

 **Thank you again to all who are reading so far! As per one Review, I have gone ahead and set a release schedule of once per week. The goal is to release every Friday. So please be patient with me as I'm balancing a job as I do this. I look forward to bringing you more of the story!**


	3. You're As Cold As Weiss

**Hello Everyone!**

 **I wanted to give everyone a HUGE thank you for all the reviews! The positive support has meant a lot to me in writing this so far and I wanted to wish you all the thanks from the bottom of my heart!**

 **To Doom's Assistant:**

 **As someone who's played through Doom that is VERY tempting, however I have some ideas on what Jaune's setup will be, and trust me, you'll find out soon.**

 **To Patriot-112:**

 **Don't worry my friend, good ol' Nick will get his due… MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA**

 **To HeavyandHardcore, Jarod 237 and Luther Cross:**

 **Thank you both! I hope you enjoy the story as it continues to evolve!**

 **To write n wrong and MaverickMike:**

 **Your wish is being granted, albet in a slightly deviated manner…**

 **And OmegaDelta:**

 **You will have to wait and see for the weapons reveal!**

* * *

Chapter 3: You're As Cold As Weiss…

* * *

Weiss walked through the halls of Beacon Academy without a care in the world. She was able to let the dolt know how she felt without any repercussions.

That, she was sure of… Or so she thought…

Over in Team JNPR's room, Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren were planning diligently on how to effectively make their point known to the SDC Heiress.

"But Ren! I WANNA BREAK HIS LEGS!" Nora screamed jumping on the bed.

"We cannot do that… yet. We have to figure out a better plan than just jumping her in the hallway." Ren calmly responded with a nod to his hyperactive female partner.

"I may have a solution to get the ball rolling in our favor. Let me call in a favor from our second favorite blond." Pyrrha spoke up with a calm yet disturbing smirk on her face.

She then picked up her scroll from her desk and dialed a number that would set in motion the day's events.

Across the Academy in the weightlifting room, a scroll buzzed and was immediately picked up as soon as the weights were dropped to the floor.

"Yello… this is Yang!" Responded the buxom blond brawler with mirth.

"Yang, this is Pyrrha; I need a favor…"

"Is this because of Jaune?" Yang responded, now sitting on the nearby bench with a towel draped over her shoulders.

"Yes, do you know what our resident Ice Queen did by chance?"

Yang sighed before she responded with a serious tone: "Unfortunately, yes, I do. Ruby is feeling the after effects of all of this too, and it doesn't help that her partner turned her first friend into persona non grata."

"We need to set her straight, Yang."

At this moment, Yang was worried; on the one hand, having a teammate who was stuck up and did not understand teamwork was a known factor to implode eventually.

On the other hand, if this wasn't handled with kid gloves, this could turn ugly. Fast.

"What did you have in mind, Cereal Box Girl?" Yang asked nervously.

Pyrrha then went into a description of an idea that was rolling around in her head. Yang slowly started to smile as the plan made more and more sense.

What's more, she knew the purrrfect candidate to get the ball rolling.

"Don't sweat it, P-Money. I know just how to make that circumstance come to light."

"Thank you so much, Yang!" Pyrrha exclaimed over the phone. "Please keep me in the loop on when the plan goes into motion."

Pyrrha then hung up abruptly. Yang continued to smirk with an evil mirth. Fate may have not been kind to her fellow blonde, but damn it if she wasn't going to take that sitting down without taking some swings back… and this was the perfect starting point.

* * *

Blake walked through the halls of Beacon with an urgent pep in her step. Ever since she received the text message from her partner, she knew she had to get back to Team RWBY's dorm room as fast as possible.

She looked again at her scroll as she mentally retraced her steps from the day.

 _Jaune is gone. Ice Queen went off the reservation on him. We need to fix this and I need your help. Meet back at the team room ASAP - Yang_

Blake arrived in front of the door to her team's domicile. As she walked up to the doorframe, it opened with an expecting Yang on the other side.

"We need your skills, Blake." Yang said in a serious tone.

"What, no puns tonight?" Blake responded with a slightly amused smirk.

"Not when it comes to Jaune."

Yang's response immediately wiped the sense of humor off Blake's face as she faced the issue with the attention of a huntress.

"What can I do to help, Yang?"

"I'm so glad you asked, Blake." said the voice of Pyrrha behind her.

Blake turned her head and saw the remaining members of Team JNPR behind her.

"It's going to go something like this…"

* * *

Weiss walked down the hall to her team's room. The smile that was still on her face had not left yet as she pranced up to the door. If she were more attentive to her surroundings, she would have noticed more shadows than normal…

A quiet whisper of "Now," was the last thing she heard before her vision was obscured by a bag being thrown over her head before she was dragged into the room.

After some struggling and whispers, Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, was tied to a chair in a dark room with a single light source faced directly into her eyes.

The bag was yanked off her head as she yelped in surprise to the bright light obscuring her vision.

"Who are you? What do you want?" Weiss growled through gritted teeth.

"What do WE want?" the mysterious figure spoke from behind the light

"We want to shine some light on your irresponsible behavior."

"Are you the White Fang?" Weiss retorted. "Have you come to exact revenge on my family?"

"No," A voice growled from the darkness "We are much worse than a bunch of pissed off White Fang goons."

The rest of the lights came on in the room, and there with pissed off looks stood Yang, Blake, and the remainder of Team JNPR. Each one of them sporting a look that would kill.

"Oh, Ice Queen…" Nora began in a sing song voice with malice behind it. "Magnhild has a date… WITH YOUR LEGS."

"If anyone has first dibs… it's me." Said Pyrrha with a malevolent smirk on her face.

"WHAT DID I DO?" Yelled an angered Weiss, wondering why this situation was happening.

Yang stepped into the view, taking charge.

"We know what you said to Jaune…" Yang calmly said.

"That dolt? His expulsion was coming." Weiss responded with a calm deadpan response.

"Care to run that by me again, Schnee?" Yang's eyes began to flicker between her normal color and red.

"Yes, the moron does not deserve to be here." Weiss rolled her eyes as she continued, "Such a failure to his family... The Arc name carries responsibilities after all."

Suddenly the door to the bathroom slammed open with a bang, and a puffy eyed Ruby Rose stalked through the nearly destroyed door frame to her partner.

"YOU SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH." Ruby roared with an intensity not seen from anyone else.

"Rubes, we've got this…" Yang began to explain.

"SHUT IT SIS, I'M FINISHING THIS." Ruby cut off her sister as she turned onto Weiss.

"YOU… YOU TOOK AWAY THE FIRST FRIEND I EVER MADE... " Ruby began as she was bouncing between crying and screaming.

"You know nothing of responsibility since you ran away from, Daddy Dearest."

Yang winced as she watched her normally shy and reserved sister begin to eviscerate her teammate without the use of her signature weapon.

"Jaune gave up his family to be here. He wanted to help others, to become something greater. DO YOU KNOW WHAT HE SAID TO ME?" Ruby was right in Weiss's face as she gradually became louder again.

Weiss at this point was sweating bullets from the proximity of the hyperactive reaper in front of her. This was a new situation and she had no idea what would be next. She shook her head, full of frustration and slight ire in response to Ruby's question.

"He didn't care about the fame or the glory of being a Huntsman. He just wanted to make someone smile and to protect those that he loved. Jaune is more of a Hero and a protector than you will ever be, Weiss." Ruby choked out her sentence with a half sob in misery from walking through the memories of her recently exiled friend.

"That dolt could never be up to the standards of what it means to protect others." Weiss responded in weak fashion.

"Oh? And you know more about this? The one who tried to usurp authority when it suited her? The one who judges others at a whim?" Ruby laid on the heat as she gave each verbal punch to Weiss's ego.

"The one who treats me like a child and a lesser person, even if I AM younger than you. And you DARE to call yourself a better human being than Jaune?"

Weiss tried to retort. She searched her brain for a response but had nothing as Ruby laid the final blow.

"Maybe one day I can forgive you, the person who I thought I could trust, the one who said there was more to her than met the eye. But for now, I cannot call you a partner any more. I cannot stand the sight of you." Ruby spat with disgust as she turned and walked out of the room.

Team JNPR watched with satisfied smirks as Weiss began to realize the enormity of her misstep.

"Someone untie me this instant!" Weiss desperately pleaded to her teammates.

"Sorry, Ice Queen, but you're on your own." Yang responded as she walked out of the room and after her sister.

Weiss turned to Blake as she pleaded her case to the female Ninja of her team.

Blake didn't say a word. She just walked out of the room, leaving the tied up heiress with the remnants of Team JNPR.

"Did you know that there are many ways to break someone?" Ren slowly spoke with a calm face.

Weiss did not like where this was going.

"Violence is one way, but considering how much damage has been done this day, this calls for something more drastic." Ren continued

"Wha… what will you do to me?" Weiss stuttered anxiously as she began to realize the deep water she was swimming in.

"Silence is golden after all." Ren said mysteriously and began to walk out of the room with the rest of the team in tow.

The door slowly clicked shut as the Heiress was left tied in the chair contemplating what she had done. Weiss's mind slowly began to creep from frustration to anxiety as the slow realization of what she had done began to dawn on her. In the simplest terms…

...she fucked up.

"I may have made a grave mistake…" Weiss spoke to the empty room.

With that admission of guilt into the public, although no one there to receive it, she began to think on how to make it up to her team. Little did she know that her penance was not over yet.

Chapter End

 **Author's Note:**

 **Thank you so much for reading! I also want to give a BIG shout out to my Beta Reader and all around friend Poofness for keeping me on the grammar straight and narrow. I am sure that in time, I will learn the ways of grammar zen.**

 **Until next time!**


	4. The Only Easy Day Was Yesterday

**Authors Note:**

 **Thank you all for the reviews. Please understand that with Guest Reviews, I cannot directly respond to them. That being said, please keep the reviews in a constructive manner. We are all friends here, and we all want to enjoy a good story.**

 **Luther Cross: Thank you for the review! And yes Momma Ruby is not one to be trifled with!**

 **Jarod237: The hero's journey is what awaits Jaune and I don't intend to slack on that front. Please let me know if you have any ideas.**

 **Cherokee2391: I totally get where you are coming from, and I think I have the solution coming down the pipeline! Please be patient as I keep writing out the chapters!**

 **Ultimate Kuuga: It will right itself… eventually :D**

 **MrFox7189: (in a joker voice) AND HERE… WE… GO…!**

 **77coke, OmegaDelta, and Write N Wrong: I can neither confirm or deny what may or may not be coming to Weiss… stay tuned…**

 **Classy J0K3R: It will be revealed to Wiess… eventually…**

 **PokemonSuperAllStar: I'm glad you have enjoyed the story so far! I look forward to your future reviews!**

* * *

Chapter 4: The only easy day was yesterday…

* * *

Jaune and Qrow approached an old worn out Warehouse with a huge sliding metal door. From an outsider's perspective, this building looked dilapidated and easily something to miss if you were just a normal person.

Thankfully, Qrow and Jaune were not in that category.

As they approached the door, Qrow immediately stuck his hand out, looking at Jaune with a stern look of 'Stay Put'.

Jaune on the other hand was not happy with this development. He wanted to know what was going on and keeping him out of the loop did not make him feel better.

"C'mon Qrow, let me come with ya old buzzard." Jaune said with an annoyed expression as he tried to push his way forward.

But Qrow wasn't having it.

"Listen ya little shit, just because I took you in doesn't mean you get to call the shots." Qrow quipped as he pushed Jaune back.

Jaune was about to retort when Qrow gave him a stone cold look and for once that conversation, Jaune heeded Qrow's warning.

Qrow approached the door and banged on the door in quick succession of 2 rapid bangs, another two rapid bangs and one more bang.

A muffled voice on the other side of the door gruffly asked: "Challenge, Thunder"

"Are you serious Cap?" Qrow quipped as he responded back

"Serious enough to put you down if you don't give me the damn response." A second voice came out of nowhere.

Qrow straightened up and responded: "Struck, damn Cap, what's got you wound up?"

The door opened and a grizzled man with a thick beard and a ball cap with the Atlesian Military Flag on it stood on the other side with a serious face.

"You don't know the half of it Qrow." The grizzled man looked to Qrow's right where nothing was there and ordered: "Wolf, stand down."

The area next to Qrow started to shimmer as a cloaking device deactivated with a pistol right up to Qrow's Temple being held by an Atlesian Special operator in all silver combat gear holding the weapon. Her outfit was a dead giveaway with a special skinsuit for stealth as clearly she was an infiltrator, although still wearing combat pants and boots.

She walked over to the Grizzled man and nodded before heading inside out of view.

"So Reaper, want to introduce me to the FNG?" The Grizzled man asked.

"FNG?" Jaune responded with curiosity and shock at witnessing what has gone down so far.

Qrow responded without breaking eye contact with the armed bearded man in front of him. "Fucking New Guy, that's what it means blonde."

Jaune's eye twitched as he was being verbally tossed around by Qrow

"Cap, this is Jaune, he's the plus one I mentioned, and maybe a possible candidate for the team." Qrow quipped while turning his head to look at Jaune.

"He's a… work in progress." Qrow said with a sarcastic smirk.

Jaune did not like this, he wanted to even the score, and he knew exactly how to respond.

"Big talk from someone who up to two seconds ago was about to get his head blown off." Jaune quipped back with an evil smirk.

Qrow was shocked, this kid not only interrupted him but just turned the tables on him. He was gonna give this kid what was due when he heard chuckling turning into laughter. He turned around to Cap and stared at him in shock.

Cap on the other hand, was laughing at what was before him. He managed to catch his breath and looked right at Jaune. "Kid, you've got a spine on ya, maybe you're not gonna be a drag." He smirked.

Jaune began to realize that he may have bit off more than he could chew…

"Sir, what do you mean?" Jaune quietly responded.

"Kid, welcome to the biggest tryout of your life." Cap responded. My name is Captain Dan Sikes, but you can call me Cap. I lead the AFO Team Frostbite, but you still have yet to meet the commander." Cap quipped as he ushered the two men into the building.

"AFO?" Jaune replied oblivious.

"Advanced Force Operators. Kid we're gonna get you up to speed quick." Cap replied back, not breaking a stride or looking at Jaune.

The three of them were walking through the warehouse full of stacked boxes, although it seemed like a maze, there seemed to be a madness to it. Eventually after a couple of turns, they reached an opening that seemed to be a command center.

Jaune saw three people hanging around the command center, in different locations. The woman he saw earlier… Wolf … was in the armory section of the area working on the pistol that she recently threatened Qrow with.

Looking over to the other side of the room, one of the guys wearing a beowolf cloth bandanna over his face was reading a book with headphones covering his ears.

Turning to the far side of the room, he saw a bullhead with a pair of legs underneath the cockpit, he could see that the legs were that of a woman in Atlesian Grey Physical Training shorts, smeared with oil and surrounded by tools.

And at the desk in the center where computers were hooked up to a satellite feed was a white haired woman who looked a lot like Weiss.

Immediately he looked down, thinking dark thoughts about his experience with a certain Heiress to a certain Dust Company…

Qrow picked up on this, and bee lined it straight over to the white haired lady behind the terminal. She was facing away from the both of them and was deeply focused on the data in front of her.

"Hey Ice Queen" Qrow started with.

The woman turned around and looked at Qrow with the same sneer that Jaune had seen from Weiss many times.

She then stood out of her chair, approached Qrow and slapped the Monty out of him.

Qrow was reeling from the aura infused slap that he just took to the face.

"Well I may have deserved that…" Qrow muttered as her hand gently took his shoulder.

Cap began to wince knowing what was about to come next.

The lady then proceeded to drive her knee straight into Qrow's gut with a vicious accuracy and intent.

"That's for thinking that you could leave like you did." The lady calmly said in a dangerous tone.

She then looked over to Cap with a curt nod, and he responded back with the same.

"Is this the FNG?" She asked with a lighter but still serious tone.

"Yes Ma'am." Cap responded while gauging her response.

She looked Jaune over while Jaune looked everywhere else but her. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Jaune Arc" He responded in a mumble

"My name is Winter Schnee, I am familiar with you Jaune from letters my sister had sent me." She stated. Jaune winced as soon as Weiss was mentioned.

She immediately noticed that and took it into her mental notes.

"Cap here will introduce you to the team, and you will integrate into the AFO Division of the Atlesian Military." Winter started with a no nonsense attitude

Jaune knew that he was signing up for something but the Military? This wasn't what he thought Qrow would be throwing him into.

"And if I don't want to sign up?" Jaune asked shakely.

"You can walk anytime you want, we don't want quitters here." Winter stated flatly. "But this is a one time offer, you take the plunge or you walk away. There are no second chances here." Winter stated with finality.

"So what's it gonna be Kid?" Cap asked with a stern face.

Jaune took the thoughts into his mind from one perspective to another, he could walk away now, but everything he wanted, everything he knew he could aspire to was right in front of him. Was he brave enough to step into the unknown?

After a couple more seconds of thought Jaune responded "I'm in".

Winter smiled fully as she turned around and stated: "Welcome to Frostbite."

Cap grabbed Jaune gently but firmly by the shoulder and directed him to the Armory to begin the introductions.

Meanwhile Qrow was lying on the floor clutching his stomach making dry heaves. His thoughts consisted of: 'Why does Monty Oum hate me so?"

* * *

Jaune and Cap walked over to the Armory as Wolf continued to work on the pistol she had in front of her. Opening the door to the separate area, they entered and Cap cleared his throat to get her attention.

Her immediate response was to keep focus on the weapon with one finger in the air towards the two men, silently stating to wait.

Jaune was surprised by the exchange and instead of shooting his mouth off, he held back and watched the scene play out.

After a beep emitted from the pistol, Wolf calmly put down the weapon and gave the men her undivided attention.

"Wolf, this is Jaune, he's the FNG." Cap stated, getting introductions going.

Wolf for her part, looked at Jaune with an analyzing glare.

"Jaune was it?" Wolf clipped in a directed tone to the young Huntsman failure.

"Yes ma'am." Jaune responded with a nervous smile trying to fake his way through the situation.

Wolf then began to smile in a predatory smile, one that warned of pain and misery ahead.

"First mistake Kid, I work for a living. No Ma'am crap. Call me by my codename or get ready to do burpees." Wolf responded with the smile growing bigger and bigger.

"What are those?" Jaune responded with worry on his face.

"Oh you are so adorable." Wolf smirked knowing that this was going to be a lot of fun for the team.

"Hey Cap" Wolf turned to her commander.

"Yes Wolf?" Cap responded after looking out of the window at the still crumpled Qrow

"Can I finish the introductions?" Wolf asked with a suddenly serious tone.

Cap noticing the change in tone immediately began to walk away.

"The Kid's all yours." Cap responded. He then looked to Jaune as he was about to leave the room. "Good Luck Kid, you're gonna need it." Cap then walked out of the Armory.

Wolf immediately reached for her com link wrapped around her neck and pressed the Team Intercom button.

"Team meeting everyone! We got fresh meat for the grinder." Wolf said with enthusiasm.

Jaune immediately did not like the enthusiasm Wolf put out.

Immediately two other members walked into the room.

One was the woman with the PT shorts on with Brunette hair and smudge marks all over her atlesian workout gear. She work a pair of welding goggles on her hair to hold it in place, and had a tan skin that was unlike that of any person from Atlas.

The other member was the man with the bandanna on his face. He had a crew cut for a hairstyle. And a scar running down his cheek. The rest was covered by said bandanna and was dressed in a turtleneck grey sweater with the sleeves rolled up. He had a tactical belt with pockets for every gadget imaginable and combat grey fatigue pants with silver boots.

"Kid, Let me introduce to you Rotor and Pepper." Wolf pointed to the Female in the group first.

"Roter is our mechanic and all around support guru. You like mecha shift weapons? You want something custom done? She's the gal you go to." Wolf smile as she gestured to Rotor.

"What's up Kid? Nice to see some new blood in the team." Rotor smiled genuinely at Jaune

"Slow down there Rot." Pepper responded with a dull tone. "He's not one of us… yet."

"Annnnd there is Pepper, our spicy member of the group." Wolf rolled her eyes at the blatant pessimism in front of her.

"He's our Tech specialist and Comm's Master. If you need your gear tweaked or if you need to learn how to hack into something, he's your man." Wolf continued.

Pepper nodded silently to Jaune, although he didn't say anything else, his body posture was that of someone sizing Jaune up.

"And I'm Wolf, the resident infiltration and Weapons expert." Jaune turned back to where he thought Wolf was at, only to find that she had disappeared from where she was standing before. He looked around trying to find her while Rotor laughed and Pepper smirked under his mask.

"Boo" a disembodied voice said from behind him. Jaune jumped out of his skin as Wolf seemed to materialize before him.

"Active Visual Camouflage, great piece of tech, but tools only get you so far." Wolf quipped in a short fashion.

Wolf then stood back in front of him while Rotor and Pepper stood next to her.

"Ok kid, from now on, we're gonna be calling you Rookie, or Rook for short." Wolf spoke with authority.

"R-right.. Wolf" Jaune responded meekly.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I know you got the speech from the Specialist outside there, but the same question is there for you. Do you want to go forward?"

Wolf looked deep into Jaune's eyes, looking for any reason to throw him out of the room.

Jaune stared back, getting his bearings, he knew he had to do this, he needed to move forward. The first introduction was the gut check, the second one was the moment of truth.

'Could I do this?' Jaune thought to himself.

"Yes." Was the only word out of Jaune's mouth.

All three Operators smirked as the began the process handed to them many years ago.

"Welcome to AFO Team Frostbite Rook." Wolf said and patted him on the shoulder.

"The only easy day was yesterday." Said both Rotor and Pepper at the same time.

"Meet outside for briefing and equipment requisition." Wolf stated in a no nonsense voice of a seasoned drill instructor.

"It's time to see if you can handle the cold."

Chapter End.

* * *

 **Thank you very much for your patience, please leave me reviews and ideas for how you want me to proceed. Thanks again!**

 **GunRose44**


	5. Sticks and Stones

**Hello Everyone!**

 **Sorry for the late upload, the full explanation is down below, but first! MAILTIME!**

 **Hyakudori : I'm really glad you feel that way. I don't want to make Jaune OP, and I don't want him to have an edgy codename. I want him to walk on the path of the true Hero's journey, and to earn his accolades.**

 **Jarod237: Thank you for the response! And yes that is something that I'm thinking of incorporating in the training cycle.**

 **FordB: Thank you for the compliment!**

 **Valerious Lake: I don't know if he'll be a member of the Jr. Detective's Club ;)**

 **MrFox7189: Thank you for the review! Still working on the squad layout but I have a pretty solid feeling that he's gonna be filling in a missing component.**

 **Monsieur Mole: Thank you so much!**

 **OmegaDelta & 77coke: In a river song voice: "Spoilers"**

 **And now, onto the chapter!**

* * *

Chapter 5: Sticks and Stones...

* * *

Glynda was in deep thought. After the previous night's activities including a full dressing down by Ozpin, she had the unfortunate duty to clean out and pack Jaune's Weapons and Armor Locker.

As she walked into the locker room and punched in the Override Code on Jaune's locker, she pondered what overall effects that her decision had made upon the future of the now disowned Jaune.

"The road to hell is paved with good intentions." Glynda murmured to herself, not entirely believing that statement.

She didn't even think that she was in the wrong. 'I looked at his records, this was for his own good.' Glynda thought to herself, trying to convince herself that she didn't set off a nightmare scenario.

She continued to waffle back and forth, the normally stoic and sure woman, now realizing the possible error of her ways, but not entirely convinced.

What she sure she was convinced of was her disgust of the Arc patriarch.

The moment when she witnessed the man, which she would not even give the title of father, throw away a son that clearly wanted to live up to their expectations. This broke her, and any indication of superiority was immediately wiped away.

All she could remember from that conversation was the broken look upon Jaune as he took in the information.

She cracked her whip and the items in the locker including Crocea Mors and Jaune's armor neatly packed into the provided duffle bag next to her. Quickly and efficiently as she expected.

A beeping sound produced from her scroll, indicating a reminder that her combat class was about to begin.

She would think upon this later, but first, she needed to prevent the children from destroying themselves.

She turned with the duffle bag in her hand and walked to the combat room.

* * *

Team RWBY made their way silently to the combat area. The frigid atmosphere within the team had continued from the previous night and would not abate.

Weiss was feeling the heat from her own teammates, and although outside she wasn't showing any signs of stress, internally she was starting to feel the creep of doubt enter her mind.

She knew after last night's "Incident" that she was in deep trouble. She missed something after her gloating and being the perfectionist she was, she needed to know what it was.

But for now, as they entered the combat arena and sat down in the bleachers, she had to stow those thoughts away.

Ruby meanwhile, walked quietly and said nothing. Seeing Jaune being taken away like that, it hurt her. He was her first friend, the one who picked her up.

But for now, she would figure a way to reach him, she just needed to figure out a way to do it.

Team NPR walked into the room, with a cold glare at the ice queen that could even puncture through her Queen Bee exterior. Team RWBY's sister team was showing without a doubt, forgiveness would take awhile.

At this point, Glynda entered the room, and before she could take control of the class, her scroll rang.

She immediately picked it up. "Goodwitch here."

Her face went from passive to worried.

"What do you mean he's here? Ozpin, you said that we'd mail the items back."

The class was rapt with attention on the conversation on the phone.

"Fine, I'll wait." Glynda responded before hanging up.

She then looked to the class and announced "We will have a guest with us today. Please be patient until he arrives."

The class began to murmur wondering what was going on.

It only took two minutes of everyone waiting on pins and needles until the door opened again and in walked in Nicholas Arc.

Glynda's mouth pressed into a hard line at seeing who would be watching the bouts. And as he approached her thoughts became more and more concerned.

"Hello Glynda" Nicholas welcomed in a haughty manner "I hope you are doing well."

"I'm doing fine Mr. Arc." Glynda responded diplomatically.

"I'm here for the birthright of the Arc family." Nicholas sneered at Glynda.

"That belongs to Jaune!" Ruby piped up. Even with the small voice, it cut through the air like a hot knife through butter.

"And who may you be?" Nicolas turned to Ruby.

"Ruby Rose sir, I am leader of team RWBY, and a fellow team leader like Jaune." Ruby looked back with determination in her eyes.

Nicholas began to laugh at the statement.

"Jaune? A leader? Please tell me Glynda that this is some strange prank." Nicholas looked at Glynda for a response.

"It's true Mr. Arc, Jaune was selected to lead Team JNPR, now NPR." Glynda curtly responded, not liking where this was going.

"That's impossible, that child that I threw out of my family could never be a huntsman, let alone a competent leader." Nicholas responded with the crowd picking up on the tidbit of information and gasping at the revelation.

Weiss in particular was now flabbergasted. Not only had she insulted Jaune, but kicked him while he lost the only thing that he talked about from his home, to impress his family.

Now he had no family, and the slow horror of her laughing at his misfortune seemed to dawn on her.

Meanwhile, Yang and Blake both held faces of shock at what just happened.

Team NPR held a gaze of pure unadulterated anger at the Arc patriarch.

But Ruby had the worst reaction of the bunch. What seemed like a perfectly well adjusted young woman turned into a murderous rage that was clearly evident on her face.

"You are wrong." Ruby said in a deceptively calm voice.

"Oh? And why do you say that?" Nicholas retorted back.

"Because Team JNPR is one of the best balanced teams besides our team here. And it's thanks to the tactics of Jaune." Ruby responded back with a menacing growl in her throat.

Yang at this point was concerned, her little sis may have been someone not to trifle with, but she was looking like she was about to bite off more than she could chew.

Oh how ironic that thought process hit the blonde brawler.

"If I may?" Glynda spoke up.

Nicholas nodded as he turned his attention to Glynda, as well as Ruby who turned to Glynda with a slight bit of confusion.

"Miss Rose is correct, Team JNPR has been combat effective thanks to the tactics that Jaune had created on the spot. Even during initiation, his role in coming up with plans on the fly had helped in securing their place here."

Nicholas still looked unimpressed.

"If you want a demonstration, an idea has crossed my mind." With Glynda then turning to the keyboard of the monitor, punching in the override commands to set up a team vs team match.

"Since Team NPR does not have a team leader at the moment, we will ask for Miss Rose to sit this fight out." Glynda looked to Miss Rose with a stern but compassionate look on her face.

Ruby seemed to take the hint, and sat down next to Nicholas Arc. She pulled out her scroll and started to prepare the video record feature.

On the monitor, the board began cycling through the possibilities until the 3 vs 3 match popped up.

TEAM WBY vs TEAM NPR

Weiss suddenly looked more pale than she ever had been in her life.

"Will the teams please prepare for combat and be back in the next 5 minutes?" Glynda implored, hoping this would knock off whatever smile Nicholas had on his smug face.

Ruby meanwhile looked pensive. On the one hand, she would always want her team to succeed no matter what the situation. But these circumstances dictated other actions. She was about to speak to her team as they entered the arena all suited up when Glynda put a hand on her shoulder.

"No Miss Rose, this is to prove to those watching that these teams can function without their leaders in a combat scenario. There will be no orders or coaching from you." Glynda implored Ruby.

Ruby looked back into her teacher's eyes and asked a very simple but troubling question. "This is more than just about the fight isn't it? You're trying to prove something with this." Her eyes drilled into the seasoned Huntress with a glare not seen in many potential huntresses.

"I am trying to correct a possible misstep." Glynda responded, with evasive eyes.

"With all due respect Professor." Ruby responded looking directly at the arena. "Until we get Jaune back, there will always be a gaping hole in our teams."

Glynda looked to the arena as the two teams sized each other up.

Meanwhile on the arena itself…

Team NPR was sizing up their opponents, namely one Weiss Schnee. A golden opportunity had presented itself, and the team wasn't going to let that go to waste.

"What's the plan?" Nora asked in her usual sing song voice.

Ren looked at Nora and then to Pyrrha. "Hey Pyrrha, do you remember when Nora went on that pancake binge and someone got in her way? Do you remember who resolved that situation?"

Pyrrha was confused at this, and thought back a week ago, the alleged incident in question caused mass hysteria, although Jaune was there to stop the issue….

"Oh yes I do." Pyrrha responded in realization of what Ren was implying. Without Jaune there to reel Nora back and with Ren not stepping in, this would give the Valkyrie free reign to do what she pleased, this in itself was a scary thought, but this rolled some ideas into Pyrrha's head for plans.

"Ok Team, Here's the Play." Pyrrha stated loud enough for Team WBY to hear from across the arena.

"Ren, you'll be neutralizing Blake and her attacks. I'll be sparring against Yang and keeping her busy." Pyrrha then turned to Nora

"Nora, you've got Weiss." Nora's innocent smile turned devious as the plan of breaking legs began to surface in her mind.

"Oh and Nora?" Pyrrha interjected, which caused Nora to look to her teammate in confusion. "Plan Scorched Earth."

Nora's grin was so devious it could even cause the most experienced of huntsmen or huntresses to shudder in the terrifying possibilities. The plan just mentioned was a last resort plan that Jaune and Ren came up with on a mission where they realized that if they needed to unleash untold destruction on an area, to let Nora do her thing without interruption.

Hence the plan name of Scorched Earth.

Meanwhile on Team WBY's side, things were not looking good. Blake and Yang could handle themselves on fights such as this. But Weiss on the other hand, fighting directly against the Valkyrie wasn't something she was looking forward to.

Glynda cleared her throat as the Aura meters loaded on the screen.

"Combatants ready?" Glynda looked for nods of approval of each team.

The nods were given, and Glynda sounded the Horn and yelled "FIGHT!"

Nora immediately used a grenade to launch herself at Weiss, who decided to activate a shield glyph to protect herself.

Nora shifted Magnhild from her grenade launcher mode to hammer mode as she bore down in the air on Weiss. Firing a second grenade which accelerated the hammer into the glyph which shattered the defence of Weiss.

The split second of contact was all that Weiss needed to get out of the way, however the recovery time from using a strong glyph such as a defensive one was something that she forgot as she tried to summon a speed glyph to move her to a new vantage point.

Weiss executed the speed glyph and was able to turn the fight to Nora's backside, figuring that of all the places a hammer wielder would be weakest, it was from behind.

If this was any other fighter, Weiss's assumptions would be correct.

Unfortunately for Weiss, Nora was not just any other fighter, and surprise was her game.

Nora turned the hammer head facing her, and swung over her head while arching backwards to gain visual sight on the pale fighter.

Contact was made as Nora's hammer connected with Weiss's outstretched arm. With the force of the hammer making contact, a sickening 'CRACK' was heard throughout the arena. Weiss stumbled as she tried to force Aura into her arm. But this was all the time that Nora needed to reset, and swing her hammer sideways into a defenseless Weiss. The blow sent her flying into the Arena wall where she left a Weiss sized dent into the structure.

Nora saw the opportunity and didn't let up, with an explosion from her hammer, she closed the distance and landed a well placed strike to Weiss's knee.

Another sickening 'CRACK' was heard as Weiss not only went into the Red on her Aura level but was laying there with a broken knee and a semi-broken arm.

Glynda knew that the fight needed to be stopped immediately. Fainting was one thing, but a fully injured student took priority.

"CEASE FIGHTING!" Glynda yelled over the microphone as she rushed onto the Arena floor. Blake, Yang, Pyrrha and Ren all stopped immediately to look at the commotion.

Nora stood over Weiss as the latter looked into the eyes of the pissed off Valkyrie.

"No one messes with my friends, and NO ONE MESSES WITH MY FAMILY." Nora roared into Weiss's face.

She then turned around and walked back to her stunned teammates as Glynda and the medical staff loaded Weiss onto a stretcher and the nurses took her off to the medical wing.

Glynda looked to one of the nurses who was about to leave and asked him "Will she be alright?"

The nurse responded "Aura will heal these injures. She will be fine."

Meanwhile on the Arena Floor Nora stalked back to her team as she got some odd looks from Yang and Blake. She retorted to them "You got a problem with my fighting style?"

Yang and Blake shook their heads in the negative.

Ren walked up to Nora and whispered into her ear with a hug that everything was ok, that they were all ok.

Yang and Blake walked up to the remaining members of JNPR as all of them tensed up, wondering how they would react to the situation.

Yang spoke up saying "We're gonna go check in on Weiss, do you want to come?"

Pyrrha and Ren nodded in the affirmative while Nora looked steadily at them.

The group of both teams walked up to Ruby and was going to pick her up to go with them when they noticed that Nicholas Arc was nowhere to be seen.

"Where's that Pompous Asshat?" Yang asked Ruby with her eyes narrowing.

Ruby sighed as she looked to her team and friends. "He left right as they took Weiss away. Said that he needs to take care of some business."

"Oh Dear" Pyrrha replied as the teams made their way to the infirmary.

* * *

 **Thank you all for reading this chapter! I want to apologize for the late upload as I am currently dealing with a family situation with a terminally ill stepparent. This has been tough on all of us, and between balancing a job and making sure they are alright, I have had little time to put this chapter together. However I wanted to give you a good chunk in return for your patience and kindness.**

 **I would like to leave you with this from this week, there will be times in life that it may seem insurmountable and rough. Remember always that there are people out there you can reach to who will care for you, and if faith is your way, may you pray and confide in your higher power whatever it may be.**

 **I'll See you all in the Next Chapter!**


	6. Heart and Soul

**Authors Note:**

 **Hello everyone, I wanted to thank you all for reaching out to me in the last year. It's been a tough one and I've been struggling to find a way to tread water after the passing of my stepfather. Combine that with being laid off of my job and having to figure out where I was going to live or not and it's been a non-conducive environment for me to write. I know it's been a long time and I apologize for the long delay. Just know that I'm happy to have the spark back in my writing and I'm ready to send out more pages of materials.**

 **By the way, this story is DEFINITELY going to be going out of the standard storyline of RWBY. I'll try to tie it back in but I want people to know this going in. With that being said, on with the story!**

* * *

Chapter 6: Heart and Soul

* * *

Jaune picked up the rifle in the virtual shooting stall. After being fitted with a standard white shirt with the name 'ROOK' in black lettering on the front, and black combat pants with boots to match, he was pushed straight over to the physical fitness area to gauge his stamina and physical fitness before then being put into the virtual shooting range with Wolf teaching him the ropes of shooting, the Atlas way.

Wolf looked over to Jaune's form, correcting little things such as a slouching stance, and poor shooting posture.

"Remind me again why I need to learn shooting Wolf?" Jaune asked in exasperation.

He had been dry firing without any ammunition in the weapon for 3 hours straight and was mentally getting tired of going through the same motions over and over again.

"Because Rook, in order to be a functioning member of this unit, you need to not only be capable within up close combat, which the Specialist will teach, but also function as a rotating member of Frostbite Rifle Squad.

Jaune paused and thought on it. It made sense that any special forces unit needed to be flexible and capable, but even he wasn't sure if he could master all that was asked of him in the timeframe given.

"Stand down Rook, and place the weapon on safe. We're going to sit down and talk about some important things." Wolf motioned as she expectantly looked at Jaune to follow the safety procedures she 'kicked' into his head.

Jaune pulled back on the charging handle three times and on the third time held the handle back so he could inspect to make sure the weapon was clear of any live ammunition. He then placed it into the same slot on the gun rack next to the range and then sealed the door with the lock.

He then turned expectantly to see Wolf walking away to the center of the room where boxes were stored. She then started climbing up to the top of the stack and looked back at Jaune.

"Well what are you waiting for an invitation? MOVE IT ROOK!"

Jaune jumped and ran to climb the mountain of boxes until he was sweating and panting at the top with Wolf.

"Rook, do you know what it means to be part of a team?" Wolf asked. Unfortunately this did not gain the reaction she was hoping for from the new hopeful.

Instead, Jaune scowled and looked down at the boxes. His response curt and cold.

"I did."

Wolf stopped for a moment, and looked into Jaune's clenched face.

"Rook, what happened?"

Jaune looked over at Wolf and with a cold far away look he started off the retelling of his story.

"It all fell apart when I wanted to be the hero and help others… and in the process, lose everything I cared about…"

* * *

Meanwhile Qrow and Winter sat across from each other in a briefing room section of the warehouse. Qrow taking a sip of coffee and Winter raising an eyebrow.

"I'm guessing it's spiked?" Winter inquired.

"Try it and see." Qrow responded as he softly pushed the mug over to her side of the table.

Winter looked at the liquid and took a sniff of it. Not a trace of alcohol to be found. This surprised her entirely since it was completely out of character for Qrow not to be drunk.

"Straight black coffee? What gives Qrow?" Winter surmised with a surprised expression, pushing the mug back to Qrow.

"Desperate times calls for desperate measures Specialist, and Oz thought he had his plan wrapped up. Unfortunately it went to hell in a handbasket and now we need to devise our own strategy. Jaune doesn't know this, but he's one of the keys in this upcoming battle. We need to make sure he's ready." Qrow responded with sips between thoughts.

"But why come to us, you know that you'd be under Ironwood again, and last time you and him clashed it didn't end well." Winter rebutted.

"I can swallow my ego if it means keeping my nieces alive. But the kid is growing on me too, just… don't tell him that." Qrow sipped while looking anywhere but Winter's eyes.

"How bad is it out there Qrow? And don't give me the usual Ozpin bullshit runaround, I need intel that's actionable." Winter was now switching to the offensive, she needed the info to begin the hunt. But she also was trying to figure out if there was any other motives.

"Look Spec… Winter." Qrow recanted as Winter's eyes narrowed. "Everything I have been noting within the espionage that I've done is on that scroll I gave you earlier. I can also help thread the pieces together. But I want you to know that I'm not working for anyone, and I'm here on my own volition."

"Surprising vocabulary for a drunkard" Winter quipped, taking one more dig in.

Qrow sighed as he knew this was going to come back to bite him.

"I know that I didn't leave on good terms from the team…" Qrow began

"Understatement of the century there." Winter responded with slight hostility in tone.

"... But I left because I started to notice the patterns forming. Do you know what my semblance is?" Qrow asked.

"Something about bad luck… but why would…. Oh my Ohm…" Winter realized.

"Yeah, we started running some close calls on the ops in Mistral and I didn't want anyone else to be on my hands." Qrow responded.

"Qrow…" Winter softened a bit. "Joe wasn't your fault. His death isn't on your hands. It was on the White Fang's hands." Winter responded trepadilty

"Funny… because every night I wake up thinking that Aura Piercing bullet was meant for me rather than Joe. That rafter perch was solid. I checked beforehand." Qrow started to stare deeply into his mug.

"Qrow…" Winter slowly reached out.

Qrow reacted by sighing and slowly standing up. Winter responded in kind.

"We need to check in on the kid. Looks like Wolf is getting his life story outta him from what I can see." Qrow responded while looking out of the room's window into the warehouse where Jaune and Wolf were talking on top of the crates.

"Wolf's the best at this." Winter responded. "Not only she's top marks in Weapons but also in Leadership ability. She can sense what is wrong with others and draw it out so it can be healed."

Qrow looked out of the window still and quipped back: "Let's hope that she's on the mark with him."

* * *

Wolf looked at Jaune after he finished his story, It was a painful one, and one thing that she knew was how it can affect people both in and out of combat.

"Kid, one thing you're gonna have to realize is that here in Frostbite, we don't hold secrets from each other. This allows us to help one another to heal from wounds, and yes we all have em, Roto and Pep included." She then pointed to her com pack on her neck and showed that it was powered on and the mic turned on.

Jaune paled at the implication and looked around to see Pepper and Rotor walking up to the pile of crates and climbing up with ease.

"We are a family here Rook and Family takes care of one another." Wolf spoke up regaining Jaune's attention again. "Roto, Pep, what do you think?"

"Kid, you're definitely a work in progress." Started Pep with a grunt. "But here's the bottom line, you work hard to make your way into our team, and in return we welcome you as family."

"Pep's right." Rotor piped up in her accent which was similar to Velvet for some reason. "If you weren't the right cut for us, we'd already show you the door. The Specialist has her way of checking in on you, and we do as well." Rotor sat next to Jaune and put her hand on his mop of blond hair.

"Know that just because you lost your family and friends doesn't mean you don't get another one to stand with." Wolf placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "So what say you Rook? Want a family that looks after their own?" Wolf asked with a genuine smile.

Jaune teared up as he wiped his eyes with his sleeve. "I'll do my best." he responded.

"Alright then Rook, Remember all that gear we checked out? Well pack it up in your Rucksack and load it into the Bullhead in the back of the base. We're shipping out to Atlas to do some 'on the job' training." Wolf responded as she slapped Jaune on the back.

Jaune looked at his possible new family and realized that although he may have been in over his head, he knew that he had people who could watch his back.

It was time to earn the Frost in Frostbite.

Chapter End

* * *

 **Thank you again for being patient, I'm always looking for constructive feedback and I can't wait to get the next chapter running up to speed. Til next time!**

 **GunRose**


End file.
